North America

Asia Pacific

Europe

Middle East

Richmond

Located in one of America’s most historic cities, Vinson & Elkins’ Richmond office is home to a team of lawyers who focus on strategic transactions involving real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other specialty finance companies. Collaborating with lawyers from our Corporate, Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Tax and Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits practices, we provide coordinated counsel on all aspects of a REIT’s formation, operation, and investment strategy.

Palo Alto

Clean energy, including renewable and alternative energy sources such as sunlight, wind, biofuels, hydro, and geothermal, has emerged as part of the solution for fueling the world’s energy needs and for driving opportunities for innovative companies. Silicon Valley led the technology revolution in the 20th Century, and Palo Alto is again a hub, but this time for the clean energy revolution of the new century.

Washington

The lawyers in the Washington, DC, office of Vinson & Elkins provide legal services to domestic and international clients in numerous industries, particularly those with litigation and regulatory matters involving the federal government.

San Francisco

Vinson & Elkins’ San Francisco office focuses on bet-the-company litigation disputes and investigations in the areas of government investigations, antitrust, securities, complex commercial litigation, environmental, complex product liability, class actions, and intellectual property litigation. Our San Francisco office is one of the most dynamic and growing in the Bay Area, and our lawyers represent clients based in Northern California, particularly in the tech space.

New York

Vinson & Elkins' New York office provides high-quality legal services to an array of blue-chip clients, including leading private equity firms, investment banks, and other financial institutions, as well as public and privately held companies in such areas as energy, infrastructure, media and entertainment, and pharmaceuticals. Our lawyers in New York focus on capital markets and securities, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, commercial litigation, securities litigation, intellectual property, finance, tax, and restructurings. The office is also home to key members of our leading Shareholder Activism practice.

Houston

Houston is considered the energy capital of the world and is second only to New York in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters. Born in the midst of the Texas oil boom a century ago, Vinson & Elkins is the largest law firm in Houston and one of the oldest. While known for its energy practice, V&E's Houston office is home to nearly 300 lawyers who handle some of the most high-profile transactions, investments, projects and disputes across the globe.

Dallas

Vinson & Elkins’ Dallas office has grown to become one of the largest law offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with more than 120 lawyers providing legal services to a broad spectrum of national and international clients. The Dallas office is home to many of the firm’s key practice groups and offers a full range of client services in transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters.

Austin

Since opening in Austin in 1979, Vinson & Elkins' lawyers have remained well connected to the city’s many flourishing and diverse industries. Key practices in Austin include intellectual property and life sciences, venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, environmental, appellate, and regulatory.

Tokyo

Vinson & Elkins has been resident in Tokyo for more than a decade. Our Tokyo practice focuses on corporate and commercial law, most frequently advising on energy and infrastructure transactions, mergers and acquisitions, as well as project development matters.

Beijing

Vinson & Elkins' Beijing office has been open since 1997, and was one of the first international law firms resident in PRC. The office is staffed with U.S., English, and Australian lawyers, who provide tailored services for Chinese companies investing abroad, as well as international clients on their business in China.

Moscow

Vinson & Elkins has advised clients on their investments and business dealings in the Russia/CIS region since the early 1970s. We established our Moscow office in 1991, and were one of the first international law firms to do so. Using Moscow as a base for our wide Russia CIS practice, we have represented numerous Russian, U.S., European, and Asian companies on a multitude of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, and other projects throughout the region.

London

Vinson & Elkins’ London office opened in 1971, making our office one of the oldest London offices of any U.S. law firm. Our London lawyers handle disputes (including international arbitration and High Court litigation), energy transactions and projects, finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and tax.

Riyadh

Vinson & Elkins has represented clients in Saudi Arabia for more than 20 years; since 2011 we have worked in association with the Law Office of Looaye M. Al-Akkas which is staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified. This collaboration allows for effective, insightful service to clients both in and outside Saudi Arabia.

Dubai

The Dubai office opened in 2003 and is located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). It is the coordinating office for the firm’s work in the region and is predominantly staffed by native, Arabic speaking lawyers, all of whom are internationally qualified, enabling us to provide proficient advice both to regional and international clients.

Highly regarded antitrust lawyers Hill Wellford and Darren Tucker have joined Vinson & Elkins as partners, bringing to the firm a combined four decades of government and private practice experience, with a focus on the technology, media, telecom, standard-setting, energy and pharmaceutical sectors.

Browse Insights

Vinson & Elkins is a great place to start or grow your career and we invite you to learn more about our firm, our practices, and our people. With our unique culture that extends across all of our offices, we enjoy working in an environment where we value diverse perspectives, have fun, and deliver outstanding client service.

Foreign Investment Law & Nationality Planning

Maximize Return on Investment from Emerging Markets

Minimizing political risk helps maximize your
return on investment. Coups, elections, investigations, revocations,
expropriations, and heavy-handed regulatory changes—each endangers your
investment, market profile, and shareholder value. As your strategic advisor, Vinson
& Elkins can help you prepare for the worst. When the worst does happen, we
will advocate on your behalf to resolve the dispute.

Proactively Planning for Your Protection

We help you align tax and corporate objectives
to select the optimal investment protection structure available. This involves
looking at available investment protection treaties and structuring your
investment accordingly. However, successful treaty planning looks beyond the
treaty text itself. It requires accounting for host states’ foreign investment
laws, which can offer another layer of protection. It also requires
understanding how an arbitration tribunal would decide a case based on your
chosen investment structure. Because V&E lawyers regularly argue cases
before investment-treaty tribunals, our structures for your investment account
for that reality.

If you have a direct contract with a state, we
can advise on stabilization and other contractual investment protection
arrangements, and develop dispute resolution agreements.

Advocating Your Case

Investor-state disputes develop over time. A
good advocate helps you manage your relationship with government authorities,
regulators, and state actors to try to maintain a commercially viable
investment. However, if necessary, our advocates can prosecute or defend your
case.

V&E’s arbitration lawyers are experienced
in prosecuting and defending investment treaty claims all over the globe and
across all the major industry sectors. Our breadth of experience and our
geographical spread combine to offer you the best possible outcome when an
investment dispute arises.
Managing commercial risks is your business. Navigating
political risks is ours.

Practice Highlights

Represented two investors in linked arbitrations against a Southeast Asian State — one under a bilateral investment treaty (ICSID Rules) and one under a multilateral investment agreement (UNCITRAL Rules); the claims arise out of an investment in the banking sector

Represented two upstream investors in Ecuador in connection with government attempts at forced conversion of PSAs on four blocks to service contracts, and in relation to expropriatory tax legislation, and advising under production sharing agreements and relevant bilateral investment treaties

Represented a U.S. company bringing claims against the Republic of Ecuador under an Ecuador-United States bilateral investment treaty; the claims resulted from state interference in the claimant’s operation of two power barges

Representing consortia of international and domestic companies in two arbitrations arising out of a hugely successful oil field offshore India in connection with a series of profit sharing disputes with the Government of India; these are collectively valued at just short of $1 billion, and have spawned significant satellite litigation in the courts of both India and Malaysia

Acted for the Republic of Poland in a claim brought by Eureko BV under the Netherlands-Poland bilateral investment treaty. The dispute arose out of the cancellation of the second phase of privatisation of a large insurance company

Representing a foreign investor in India’s 2G licensing round in connection with contractual and investor-state claims made under the relevant license and bilateral investment protection treaty resulting from the state’s cancellation post-award of 22 mobile telephony licenses and failure to refund license fees or pay compensation

Represented a North American investor in LCIA arbitration against Armenia over breach of investment agreement and BIT claims

Represented a UK investor in a claim to be brought in respect of an upstream oil and gas project against an East European State under the terms of its foreign investment law

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